Social fragmentation occurs when shared norms dissolve and group identity replaces civic membership.
It is the final visible signal before systemic rupture.
What It Is
Social fragmentation appears as:
- Declining shared norms
- Group-based grievance politics
- Reduced mutual obligation
- Parallel moral frameworks
Unity becomes procedural rather than cultural.
Why It Appears
It arises when:
- National identity weakens
- Reciprocity becomes ambiguous
- Law loses neutrality
- Compassion is moralised unevenly
Belonging fractures.
What It Indicates
Social fragmentation indicates:
- Loss of cohesion
- Collapse of informal order
- Rising enforcement demand
- Imminent legitimacy crisis
Fragmentation precedes polarisation.
What Follows
If uncorrected:
- Zero-sum politics
- Administrative coercion
- Hard corrective movements
- Institutional rupture
Closing
Societies do not fragment because they are diverse.
They fragment because shared obligation dissolves.
Order precedes compassion—
and cohesion depends on both.